Centers of gravity in Russia

Above is a chloropleth regional map of Russia, expressing the GRP of regions to the Russian average. The most interesting point is how Moscow seems to soak up all resources and population around a radius of several hundreds kilometers.

It reminds me of Volkswagen placing a industrial park in Kaluga, only to realize later that they could not find enough workforce at the wage VW was willing to pay. The locals preferred to drive three hours each day to Moscow in order to earn three times as much 🙂